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ORGANIC VEGETABLE GROWING MASTERCLASSES

Hands On, Practical Workshops ​

 - run by very experienced Mastergardeners  and Organic Farmers

​

  1. Introduction to Organic Market Gardening
    - Enterprise Planning and Organic Choices - 2 days
                                                          Workshop content .....  
     

  2. Working in the Field - 1 day
                                                          Workshop Content ..... 
     

  3. Plant Propagation - 1 day
                                                          Workshop Content ..... 
     

  4. Irrigation - 1 day
                                                          Workshop Content ..... 
     

  5. Harvesting and Post Harvest - 1 day
                                                          Workshop Content ..... 

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We Are Working On Dates For The Next Series Of Workshops

 send an email expressions of interest by clicking here​​​

About The Presenter -  Joyce Wilkie

Trained as scientists Joyce Wilkie and Michael Plane changed direction in 1972 and turned part of their property ‘Allsun’, a bush block near Gundaroo, NSW, into a small, diverse, organic farm selling vegetables, fruit, eggs and pork into Canberra. Mentored by Eliot Coleman (author of The New Organic Grower) and Joel Salatin, Joyce and Mike pioneered modern, efficient, organic vegetable growing in Australia stacking poultry and latterly pigs in rotation on top of the vegetable beds. They turned a few millimetres of degraded top soil into the half meter of fertile loam that exists in the Allsun garden today.

 

Joyce is an experienced teacher. Skills learnt training as an academic have been used to run workshops, field days and masterclasses She has also mentored a number of aspiring market gardeners who have successfully gone on to run their own farming operations.

In 2020 when SAGE was looking for a mentor/manager to start Stepping Stone Farm she jumped at the opportunity. She managed the farm through its establishment years, mentoring both the interns and volunteers and is now concentrating on teaching and uploading her years of knowledge and experience onto the web.

​MASTERCLASS

​CONTENT

​Introduction to Organic Market Gardening

Enterprise Planning and

Organic Choices

2 days

   

Defining Organic Farming

   Feeding the Soil

   Mulching

   Clean Cultivation

   Green Manuring

   Why the Eliot Coleman/Jean-Martin

   Fortier approachGeneral

Layout

Base Maps & Overlays

   Water Reticulation

   Management Systems

   Using Animals

   Powered tillage options

   Building raised beds

   When to work on the flat

Marketing 

   What to grow

   How much to grow

   When to plant

Computer application options

Enterprise Planning

Rotations & Bed Plan

   Designing a simple rotation

   Planning a more complicated rotation

Time Management

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​Working in the Field

1 day



 

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Farm Safety

   General WHS

   Working with and around  tractors

   Tractor maintenance & tips

Raised Beds – Using a tractor

   Getting rid of spent crop and/or weeds

   and green manures 

   Using a slasher

   Using a flail mower on a walk behind tractor 

   Using a 4-wheeled tractor to make the beds       Using a 2-wheeled tractor to make beds

   Changing tools on a walk-behind tractor

   and a 4-wheeled tractor

Deep, non-inversion tillage

   using a ripper on a 4-wheeled tractor

   vs using a broadfork in a small garden

Changing tools on the 4-wheeled tractor 

Changing tools on a 2-wheeled tractor

Dealing with weeds 

   Mulching

   Wheel hoes

   Long handled hoes

Raised Beds – Theory

   When to use raised beds

   When to work on the flat

Tarps/solarisation

Using animals

Making a raised bed by hand 

   Wheel hoes and furrower attachments

   Hand cultivators & rakes

Flame weeding & stale seed beds

Down row spacing

Row marking

Transplanting and Seeding

   Paper Pot planter

   Direct seeding

     By hand – large seeds & using drip lines 

     Jang Seeder – small seeds & overhead

     irrigation

   Undersowing

Importance of accurate planting

Plant Propagation 

1 day
 

Potting Mix

   Commercial potting mixes 

   Compost/Worm Castings 

   Coco Peat/Vermiculite/Perlite/Peat Moss 

   Sand 

   Fertilisers

   Soil Blocking Mix vs potting mix

Containers

   Pots 

   Cell trays   

   Paper pots 

   Pot alternatives/Soil blocks

Bottom Heat & how to use it

Seed sowing

   Tomatoes, eggplants, capsicums, chillies 

   Onions, leeks 

   Direct sowing vs growing seedlings

Pricking up

   Monocotyledons vs dicotyledons

Dividing perennials

Sourcing Seed

   Open pollinated

   F1 hybrids vs GMO

Seed saving

Watering

Post sowing fertilizing

Plant health and Pest management

    Fungi 

    Insects

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Irrigation

1 day

 

Water regulation & licensing

   Rivers

   Dams

   Bores

Pumping & water storage

   Pumps

   Windmills

   Tanks

Main Water line Design

Sprinklers 

   Wobblers 

   Mini wobblers

   Micro Sprinklers 

   Sumi hoses

   Misters

Drip Irrigation 

   Drip hose

   Soaker hoses

Spacing   

Fertigation

Drainage

Understanding what happens to water in soil     

   When to turn the water on 

   When to turn it off

Scheduling irrigation 

   Timers 

   Solenoid valves and automatic control

   systems

Four Irrigation Lessons    

   1. Drip – shorten the interval between 

       irrigation events 

   2. Sprinkler – lengthen the duration of each

       irrigation event 

   3. Nitrate leaching when the crop is young 

   4. Misjudging the onset of exponential

       plant growth

Harvesting and Post Harvest

1 day

Food Safety Considerations

    Microgreens 

    Small Mixed Greens 

    Large Leafy greens

Large Cabbage family vegetables

Squash & Cucumbers

Peas & Beans

Root Vegetables

Tomatoes, Capsicums & Eggplants

Storage Crops

     Pumpkins

     Alliums

Value Adding 

     Bottling & Preserving

    Braiding Garlic

Reviews

 

“Joyce Wilkie’s Organic Market Gardening Masterclasses are a fantastic introduction to setting up a productive, well-organised market garden. Taken as five modules totalling 7 days, they would also suit someone interested in just some of the individual modules. Starting with planting and progressing to working in the field, plant propagation, irrigation and finally harvesting and post-harvest, they cover a large amount of information, accompanied by extensive notes and, best of all, practical field work that really helps to reinforce the teaching. Joyce is an inspiring, skilled educator, making the learning material accessible and enjoyable. This is definitely a hands-on course! Joyce’s background in science really adds value to her teaching and encourages participants to engage with the processes of soil care and plant and food production. Her amazing capacity as a farming entrepreneur underpins all that she does, so that market gardening can be a sustainable, rewarding endeavour for those embarking on this journey. Joyce is incredibly knowledgeable, generous and calm. She teaches with humour and is a great cook too!  All questions are treated with respect and she makes great connections with her participants. I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of this course and have been inspired and invigorated in pursuing my gardening life.”

Cate Wikner

2024​

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